Sunshine Salad & the Wig

Today has been yet another gorgeousssss day in West Palm that I think I may just have to start wearing tracksuits, get my face lifted & call it a day! Seriously...this is the good life out here. Why do I & my sweet family & friends inflict such pain on ourselves by enduring long, cold, snowy, depressing winters in Ontario?

I started the morning off with a light run while Papa walked Chloe around the town. I'm preparing for a 10K in May so I'm into the heavier runs now. I logged 8.5km a few days ago and was pretty sore after so I'm trying to pace myself. I'll do a separate post later about the fun that is known as running!

The babe was still out for her walk when I got home so I decided to cram in a little hair highlighting in the bathroom. Or should I say darklights. I thought it was time to put a little party into the do so I added in a few dark pieces.

I was picking up my regular kit at the drugstore when I decided to venture out and buy the $2.99 Revlon boxed color too. I am always being asked where I get my hair done (because people are so silly nice with their compliments), and it surprises people to know that I do it myself for a whopping $20 every couple of months. This is what I normally use if you're interested:

{Creme Brulee} { Light Golden Brown}

Tonight I'm making a huge salad up for dinner - keeping it light to kind of fit the mood of this sunny day!

I have to share with you my new love affair with salads. I've never been a rabbit food kind of gal but I'm trying to eat 50% of my food raw at each meal. Now - I find my body just craves veggies!

Here's a simple & delish Salada for you to try:

- 2 stalks of Romaine chopped

- 1 bunch of Kale chopped

- 1 cup of chickpeas (try soaking dry chickpeas instead of buying canned - super yum!)

- 1 stalk of celery chopped

- 1/2 red onion chopped

- red & green bell pepper chopped

- 1/4 cup slivered almonds

- 1/2 avacodo

Dressing: Better than Bottled Balsamic Vinaigrette

• 2.5 tablespoons balsamic, white, or red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard or regular mustard
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• Ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 minced clove of garlic (optional)
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Enjoy!!

Q & A sesh

Hey friends,

I'm sure you're all captivated by "the most dramatic rose ceremony ever" right now (blah, blah, blah). Thought this would be the perfect time to sit and answer your great questions. And thanks for your super sweet comments - I'm honoured that you enjoy reading our blog!

Okay...so here we go:

-Alyssa asked: what do you like reading about on blogs? What makes you come back to the same blog again and again?

Well, I follow close to 300 blogs and I love every one of them because they truly bring a burst of inspiration into my daily life. I enjoy mom blogs for obvious reasons! I follow alot of health focused blogs on: running, raw & healthy food, and then there are several that I love due to the creativity & beautiful images they post every day.

- Care asked: how do you stay in shape? also, did you design your nursery? sorry if this has been posted before, but i love it! where do you get your design ideas from? I have always made health a priority but since having Chloe I have had to get pretty creative! I make a point of exercising every day - most days that means going down to my basement & riding the spin bike during her morning nap. I go the gym about 5 times/week to do either a yoga class, weight training or running. Proper nutrition is even more important though and I make sure that 90% of what I eat is clean, nutritious & mostly organic. Living this way truly gives me so much energy and even on the days that I don't get a good sleep (which are most!), I still take time to exercise because I feel more tired if I don't. Sorry for the long answer here but it is something I'm passionate about and would love to share more if you're interested - email me at angepeets at gmail dot com.

For the nursery - I knew that I wanted to keep it very natural & dreamy looking. The very first thing I purchased was the netting above her crib and that kind of set the tone. I spent alot of time online for inspiration - a few great sites to check out are kenziepoo & spearmint baby

Cassie asked: Do you color your hair or is it naturally that insanely beautiful blonde? Blonde hair is the end all, be all of perfection to me and I covet your gorgeous hair. Wow - seriously you are too kind!! I actually do color my own hair. My naturaly color is a dirty blonde and I use this great kit by Loreal called Colour Experte and the shade is Creme Brulee. It's amazing!!!

Angelene asked: Did you have a career before you became a Mom? Will you be going back to work or staying home? Yes - I did have a career before having Chloe. My last position was a retail district manager. I am enjoying this time at home with my husband & little girl so much (in Canada we have 1 year mat leave) that the thought of changing our lifestyle is terrifying... but all moms go through this! I do plan on going back to work but I'm also interested in pursuing my certifications in personal training & nutrition.

Francis asked: Congrats!! what are some of your favorite exercise routines to stay in shape? A typical week of workouts for me would look like this: 2 yoga classes, 3 days of weight lifting & cardio (running or spinning) 5 days/week. I get bored so quickly so when I do cardio I love to use that time to get through my growing stack of magazines and when I weight train I always do circuits which keep my heart rate up the whole time. I usually only have 30 minutes a day to workout so I make sure I work hard when I'm there!

House Appeal asked: Did you work out while you are pregnant? I just got the go-ahead from my doctor to start a few weeks ago (rough first trimester) and am looking for ideas on what to do. Yes I did! I think it's so important to keep moving throughout pregnancy and I found that swimming was a great way to continue right into the last weeks of my own pregnancy.

Jacqueline asked: What jogging stroller/s do you recommend? Which clean eating or other healthy recipe sites do you frequent? We have a Quinny Buzz stroller & I absolutely love it! It is so compact & light yet it has solid, rugged wheels and hydraulics that absorb the bumps. Here are a list of my fave healthy blogs:

- Fat Free Vegan

- Eat Live Run

- Joyous Health

- Oh She Glows

- Eat Clean Diet

- The Fitnessista

Kate asked: Do you run in the winter? If so, how do you manage that with the terrible Ontario winters? Well I do run in the winter but of the treadmill variety! I just don't enjoy running in the cold...I actually don't enjoy anything in the cold and your question makes me wonder why I live here :)

Danielle asked: What is Chloe's middle name? Are you just taking the year off or are you SAH indefinitely? Chloe Grace. She was actually almost Grace as a first name but she is definitely Chloe now that we know her! (And I'm sure you'd agree with the name choice! )I'm taking the full year off and enjoying every bit of it! I do plan to go back to work.

Becca asked: Where did you get that cute bumbo seat cover? I love it! I bought it off Etsy from this seller!

Amy asked: Where do you buy Chloe's clothes from? She is always dressed so cute! Thank you! I buy most of her clothes from The Gap, Old Navy & Mexx (Cdn store)

Summer asked: do you take vitamins & supplements, and if so, what are they and why? I do take daily supplements as insurance for what I might not be getting in my diet. I take a mulit, fish oil caps & vitamin D. I also add chia seeds & fish oil to my daily protein shake because Omega 3's are so essential!

Well that was fun! Thanks for all the great questions!

I like the sound of 3.0 better

"Thirty was so strange for me. I really had to come to terms with the fact that I am now a walking and talking adult" ~ C.S Lewis

Well here we are. The start of a new decade. I just put my baby girl down for her nap and now I sit to write a contemplative post about what this means to me. I'm totally good with it.

I have never actually been happier than I am right now. My twenties were lovely. I worked hard at my career and achieved great success in the land of coffee. I married my dream boy after he courted me for 7 years. And I brought life into this world. I could not ask for more in my life!

Mr Swell just walked in the door with coffee in hand. This day is already looking up! Here's what we've got planned for the rest of it:

-a workout sesh to get my sweat on before I indulge in this:

- Book browsing & picking up my free bday grande-2pump-soy-chai with cinnamon on top:

- Wear my new birthday wellies because the sunshine I requested hasn't made it's debut yet:

which look like this:

Prepare a yummy eggplant parmesan dinner in my new birthday pots & pans:

Then our lovely neighbour is coming over to babysit after I put Chloe down so that Mr Swell & I can do a little of this:

This weekend we're having all our lovelies over for a dinner party & game night so I'm pretty much doing the Jersey Shore fist pump right now!

Thunder Thighs

Chloe had her 6 month checkup & shots today. She's 2 months delayed in receiving them (she turns 8 months tomorrow) but this something I spoke about with my doctor when she was a few months old and he felt it was fine to delay the schedule a little bit. I always dread "needle day" so I make sure that Mr Swell is able to do most of the heavy lifting.

First item of business was the scale. She's a little over 19lbs and is growing very long & lean. She never.stops.eating.or.moving!

Then I made my exit from the room as Mr Swell and the doctor talked about the weather while administering scary needles. And those legs that Chloe's Nana so lovingly refers to as thunder thighs, didn't feel a thing! Obviously I need to take a chill pill.

Since that went so well, we thought we'd go to Pan for a little family luncheon!

I thought for Chloe's 8 monthiversary, I would buy her one of those collapsible table chairs like the Me Too from Phil & Teds. Has anyone used this?

Gorgeously Green Spray

As most of you moms can relate, since having Chloe, I look at everything through a different lens and try to be as informed as possible when it comes to her health & safety. I've started buying more organic food and supplement my already pretty healthy diet with vitamins to make sure my milk is top notch. An obvious next step was to get rid of toxic cleaning chemicals in our home. I made up 2 different concoctions that I found online and they work fabulously! Now go get out your lab coat and give these a try:

Georgeous Green All-Purpose Spray:

Fill 32oz spray bottle with water first then add all the rest. Make sure to use 100% essential oils.

• 2c Water
• 1/2c distilled white vinegar
• 1tsp peppermint castile soap
• 3/4c hydrogen peroxide
• 20 drops tea tree oil
• 20 drops lavendar or lemongrass

Fruit & Veggie Wash:

Mix all ingredients into spray bottle. Spray produce and let sit for 5-10 minutes before rinsing.

• 1c Water
• 1c distilled white vinegar
• 1tbsp baking soda
• 20 drops grapefruit seed extract

I've also recently fell in love with baking soda and can't believe what a powerhouse powder this is! Check out all the uses!

Kris Kross will make you wanna...

Jump ... Jump ... Jump!!!

I can now add the jumperoo that was given to us, to the 10 minute rotation I do each day between the bumbo, swing & playmat! Yay for 10 more minutes of mommy multi-tasking!!! It's like this thing was made for Chloe!

Santa Baby

Mr Swell & I thought - what better way to spend our last day in sunny, hot Florida than to dress our darling Chloe up in red velvet Christmas attire and take her to meet Santa for the first time! We had actually attempted to take her the day before (a Sunday) along with 95% of the residents of Palm Beach. Seeing as the wait was well over 2 hrs we thought that first thing Monday would be a better plan. Well - sure enough there was not one person in line and we were scooted right through...literally. Even though there was no one behind us, it was quite the rush job. Nonetheless, Chloe gave a nice little smile after processing who this stranger's lap was that she was sitting in.

Step 1: play with daddy in the presence of Santa

Step 2: the handoff

Step 3: Not so sure about this guy

Step 4: Warming up

Step 5: Big smiles after finding out that this guy gives good gifts!

Speaking of gifts, Chloe managed to ask Santa for the Beaba Baby Food Maker:

"Your Baby Can Read" program: (It must be all that late night TV she's been watching lately)

And just in case he should forget her, she mailed him a friendly reminder:

She was also kind enough to ask for a few things for her mom - talk about expensive taste!

2 aweseome books:

Rachel Rae Stainless Pots/Pans:

Kitchen Aid pink Mixer

Pink Dyson Vaccuum:

Yudu Screen Printing Machine:

Lululemon giftcard:

It's so silly of me to post this wish list on here, because it's not like I send out an email blast to all of my family members every time I create a blog post. *wink*

5 Fave Things

So, here I am 7 weeks into this wonderful new life of being a mom and I thought I would share 5 things that have really helped!

1) Summer Infant Video Monitor: it's great to put her face to the sound! Although I feel almost sad when I can see her with her eyes open in the dark at night...

2) Kiddopotamus Swaddle Blanket: We have 3 of these and they keep her nice & bundled through her sleeps. Our last resort would have to be a straight jacket.

3) Homedics Nursery Image/Sound Projector: often referred to as the "baby crack" machine. Chloe is mesmerized by the moon & stars. I've made this part of our bedtime routine after her bath & last feeding.

4) The Itzbeen Timer: This has been a life saver for me as I don't have to think about how long it's been since I last fed her or what side she last fed on....perfect for mommy brain.

5) Infantino Carrier: I use this daily for our morning walks. Chloe loves being snuggled in while the fresh air hits her face! It balances her weight perfectly and I've even been known to do the laundry & bake muffins while she's in it!